for her to walk through. She blinked, realizing she was finally seeing him in his element. Here, he was easy and relaxed, far more so than when he called on her.
The land was made for him, and he was obviously meant to spend his days farming and working on it.
“Not too cold today,” she murmured.
“I’m glad of it,” he replied as he wrapped an arm around a horse’s neck, patting her gently.
The horse stood still, seeming to enjoy his tender attentions, then with what looked like the gentlest of coaxing, Micah pulled on the horse’s bridle and started walking back through the field.
“What’s her name?”
“Belle.” He chuckled. “It’s quite a name, ain’t so? I didn’t name her, though.” Idly running a hand down the horse’s mane, he looked at Frannie. “Perhaps one day soon I’ll hitch her up and take you for a ride. She’s a gut buggy horse.”
This was it. She needed to say something. Before she lost her nerve, she spoke in a rush. “Micah, I came here to tell you that I have fallen in love with Luke. That is, Detective Reynolds.”
He paused for the briefest of seconds. “You mean the Englischer.”
“Jah.”
“Do you two even have a future together? I thought he left.”
“I care for him enough to wait to see if he’ll come back.” Privately, she resolved to even go visit Luke in Cincinnati, if that’s what it took.
“You don’t want to try to make things work between us?”
“No. I don’t.” Frannie looked down at her feet, embarrassed because she knew no words could repair the damage that had been done. She’d hurt Micah by loving someone else.
“So you fancy the police detective now.”
Stung by the bitter tone, and by the way he’d emphasized now, her chin popped up. “You make it sound like I’ve always got my eye on someone new.”
“Don’t you? First me, then Perry. Now the Englischer.”
“I’m not like that. I’m not flighty.”
“I didn’t call you flighty.” His voice was noticeably cooler. “Only pointing out that your attentions have turned. Yet again.”
As they walked through the ankle-high grass toward the barn, Belle easily clopping along by Micah’s side, Frannie did her best to push her feelings to one side and concentrate on Micah’s.
But it wasn’t an easy thing to do, because it seemed like he had deliberately misunderstood what she was saying.
But her relationship with Luke hadn’t occurred the way he was describing it, of course. Not the simple way he was describing it, anyway. Though she shouldn’t have been surprised, she was still hurt by the way he was turning the tables on her. She’d known telling him that she didn’t return his feelings would be difficult to do. And yet she’d still gone to his house to tell him face-to-face.
As best as she could, she grabbed hold of her pride as she watched him open the gate, guide Belle through it, then close it again.
When they started walking along the path to the barn, she forced herself to speak. “Micah, I came over here to tell you that I hope we can still be friends.”
The three of them stopped at the front of the barn door. “Is that what you want now?” he asked derisively. “To be friends with me?”
All she really knew was that she wanted to end the conversation. “Can we still be friends?”
Pale eyes scanned her from top to bottom. For a split second, she saw pain appear in his gaze, followed by unwanted resignation.
Then he blinked and his face became expressionless. “Perhaps. Perhaps one day, Frannie.” Squaring his shoulders, he looked at her evenly. “I will not wait for you any longer. I am done waiting.”
“I understand.” She was relieved, actually. She wouldn’t feel so guilty if she knew he was happy with someone else.
“All right, then. I think it is best if you go now.”
She felt his deflection as strongly as if he’d pushed her away. Which wasn’t fair, of course. The man had his pride and he was trying hard to keep it.
She could understand that.
“Goodbye, Micah,” she said softly before turning and walking the short distance to her buggy. By the time she’d untied her horse from the post, she saw that Micah was gone.
Chapter 27
“Back when we were in school, Perry would read a whole book in a day. He was a lot smarter than most gave him credit for. It’s a real shame he made so many dumb choices.”
BETH BYLER
Still shaken by her conversation with Micah, Frannie stopped by Beth’s house on